“If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary for everything to change.”

When Sicilian nobleman Giuseppe Di Lampedusa expressed that sentiment in his 1957 novel The Leopard, he clearly was not thinking of Enrico Letta, the Italian politician given the thankless task of becoming his country’s latest revolving-door prime minister.

After two months of fruitless discussions among Italy’s political power brokers, the country’s 87-year-old President Giorgio Napolitano turned to Letta to try to form a new government.

Many outside Italy may greet Letta’s nomination as simply yet another example of that country’s musical-chairs-type governments, where entrenched politicians simply alternate in power with each other with no significant changes occurring in how Italy is governed (or misgoverned).

However, that ho-hum attitude toward Italian politics can no longer be afforded by either the country’s population or other nations, including Canada and members of the wealthy G7 nations.

Because what happens next in Italy under the Letta government could have extremely important consequences for much of the increasingly interconnected global community, particularly in the trade and economic sector already shaky enough as it is without a further jolt arising from Europe’s third-largest economy.

Put bluntly, if a new government under Letta cannot pull Italy back from the abyss confronting it, other already vulnerable European Union states like Spain, Portugal, Greece, plus Ireland, Cyprus and Slovenia, could also become dangerously destabilized, their societies plunged into full-scale economic depressions.

Such a grim prospect would have ramifications extending far beyond Europe, including for Canada where the Harper government’s smug complacency about Canada’s economic future would also be jeopardized, particularly if the situation in the United States and China were to also be undermined by events in the critically important European Union.

At first glance, Signor Letta does seem to have some positive credentials for the difficult challenges facing anyone attempting to confront Italy’s myriad problems, including its massive deficit, large-scale unemployment and vulnerable banking system.

If anything, his almost meteoric rise within the country’s political system is quite impressive, having served as a minister in four past cabinets and recently was elevated into the leadership of the left-leaning Democratic Party from his position as deputy leader when the leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, resigned this month after rejecting a deal to co-operate in Parliament with the controversial Silvio Berlusconi and his People of Liberty Party, PLP.

Letta’s nomination has also been warmly received by sectors of the business community, as well as those who agree with his strong support for the European Union.

Nonetheless, although Letta, 46, will be the second youngest prime minister of Italy, and is considered a moderate, he’s viewed by some as part of the much-discredited old-boy political caste which has dominated the country’s politics since the end of the Second World War, a self-perpetuating class many Italians consider responsible for Italy’s mismanagement and horrific economic ills.

Widespread dislike of such traditional politicians was dramatically shown during February elections, when the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo became the third-largest party with about one quarter of the vote.

The extent of the growing animosity toward Italy’s political class was vividly demonstrated last Sunday when a disgruntled unemployed bricklayer, intent on targeting politicians close to the office of Italy’s new prime minister, instead shot two policemen just as Letta was receiving parliamentary approval nearby.

The fact that Letta will have to work with the right-of-centre former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi — who still faces tax fraud and charges of sex with a female Moroccan minor — is viewed as a dubious starting point for serious reforms.

The fact that his uncle, Gianni Letta, served as deputy prime minister in Berlusconi’s last government, has also raised concerns over what kind of policies Enrico Letta is prepared to implement to revitalize Italy’s economy stuck in a 20-month long recession, confront 38 per cent youth unemployment and reduce the country’s $2.6-trillion public debt.

There already is grumbling within Letta’s party over working with Berlusconi.

Some have described a deal with Berlusconi a “betrayal” of everything the Democratic Party stands for.

Mindful of his need for support from other parties in parliament, Enrico Letta said, “All of the essential reforms must be done together with the largest possible participation.”

It is precisely this reaching-out by Letta, who has earned a reputation as a politician able to work with others, that presumably helped Napolitano decide to designate him prime minister at such a critical time for Italy.

Napolitano made his decision fully cognizant of the widespread antipathy toward Italy’s traditional political establishment but also keenly aware that if there are to be truly far-reaching reforms, including further painful austerity measures, this will only be achieved via an agreement involving a clear majority of politicians supporting such changes.

Paradoxically, some of the discredited long-serving politicians whom the Italian populace hold responsible for the country’s current crisis may now play pivotal roles in resolving their own mismanagement of Italy.

Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator. He served in Italy.

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Europe, Canada hope Enrico Letta can correct Italy’s problems

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